


Sister to Sister

by ZoeSong



Series: Always a Stark [9]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Female Friendship, Romance, Sisters, Winterfell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 15:26:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13297761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeSong/pseuds/ZoeSong
Summary: As Sansa prepares for her wedding, some special guests arrive.





	Sister to Sister

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CeridwenofWales](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeridwenofWales/gifts).



> This belongs at the end of "[Change,](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12461991)" right before the last paragraph.
> 
> Thank you in advance for any comments or kudos. I can use all the inspiration you can give, as the muse has been a little quiet lately.
> 
> For B&T

~~

 

Sansa was trying on her wedding gown when feminine voices came down the hall.

Turning, she welcomed Arya, Lyanna Mormont, and Alys Karstark to her rooms. Lyanna, despite her youth, had been made the guardian of Alys Karstark until she came of age. Arya and Lyanna had become great friends in the months after the Great War, and Arya had been spending a great deal of time at Bear Island. The three had come to attend the wedding.

“Oh, what a beautiful dress!” Alys’s voice rang out in admiration. “Such a lovely color on you.”

“Thank you, we call it ‘Tully Blue,’ as it is one of my mother’s house colors.” She gave a turn, for effect, and enjoyed Alys’s cooing over the flow of the dress. She knew that Arya and Lyanna wouldn’t be so impressed; neither of them cared much about sewing. “It’s my wedding gown. I was just trying it on for a fitting – the hem seems to be a bit off on this side.”

“Oh, yes, I see. Let me.” Alys’s fingers flew to the pins, and quickly adjusted the hem. 

Sansa turned, appraising her figure in the glass. “Yes, that’s better. Thank you.” 

“You will look so lovely! How will you do your hair?” Alys’s enthusiasm was heartwarming. 

“I will leave it down, as I prefer it – and as Sandor likes it. Perhaps some braiding at the crown.” For her other two weddings she’d had her hair up, and she wanted everything to be different this time, including her hair. “And blue roses for my bouquet.”

“That sounds perfect. I could do your hair, if you’d like.” Alys paused for Sansa’s nod of approval, then twisted a small section of Sansa’s hair into a make-shift plait and pulled it over the crown of Sansa’s head into a curving design.

“Something like that would be lovely, thank you, Alys.”

Arya and Lyanna were watching out the window. Sansa gave Alys a conspiratorial glance – she knew the other girls weren’t interested in dresses or hair.

Sansa went over to the wardrobe. “I made something for you too, Arya.” She glanced back just in time to catch Arya throwing Lyanna a look. “Don’t worry, it’s not a gown.” Arya looked a bit embarrassed, and Lyanna and Alys both grinned at her.

Sansa took out the glossy, smooth new leathers.

“Ooh, those are beautiful.” It was Lyanna admiring this time. She stepped forward to feel the sleek leather. “Such fine tooling.” She ran her fingers over the wolf pattern along the hem of the garment. 

“Well, I can’t take all the credit for that. Our tanner is quite skilled. I gave him some rough sketches of what I wanted and he did the rest. I just stitched the pieces together.” Lyanna continued to finger the fine designs. “I can make you a set if you’d like. You should stay for a fitting after the wedding.”

Lyanna assented gladly and continued admiring the leathers. Arya had not said anything yet. But Sansa could tell that she liked them. She gave Sansa a nod, and Sansa beamed. It was hard to please her sister, but she saw that she’d managed it this time.

A noise came in the distance, and the younger girls rushed back to the windows. “The dragons are coming!” Lyanna cried. 

“Go and meet them. I must change, but then I’ll be down.” Sansa smiled at their excitement. It was always thrilling to see the dragons coming, but Lyanna and Alys had not seen them so often as she and Arya had, so it was natural that they would be more excited. Sansa was pleased that Jon and Dany were coming to the wedding. She had not expected Dany to come, seeing as she was expecting a child, but Jon and Dany had both insisted. It gave Sansa a warm feeling to know that she had such close family, even when they lived so far away.

“I’ll help you change,” Alys kindly offered. 

“No, you go ahead with Lyanna. I’ll stay with Sansa.” Arya’s voice was firm. She’d seen – and ridden – the dragons fairly often with Jon in the past.

The other girls gratefully accepted and ran ahead.

Arya carefully helped Sansa out of the pinned dress and laced her into her other one. “So,” she said, tugging on the laces fiercely, “You’re really marrying _the Hound_.”

Sansa nodded, adjusting her dress at the waist, and turned to face her sister. “Yes, I am.”

“I thought you weren’t going to marry.”

“I thought not either. And I appreciate that you supported me in that.”

Arya nodded firmly. “Of course.” Then she gave her a wry smile. “Well, _I_ didn’t want to be ‘Lady of Winterfell’ if you left.” She grew serious again. “What changed your mind?”

“I realized that I wanted love and marriage – and children – after all.” 

“Fine, but you could have that with any other man.” 

“I don’t love any other man. I love Sandor.”

Arya shook her head with disbelief. “But–” her voice dropped to a whisper. “He’s so gross – and you’ll have to _lie_ with him – how will you bear that?” She gave what was almost a shudder.

“I think I will manage.” Sansa tried not to laugh or give anything away, but must have done so badly, for Arya suddenly looked shocked. 

“You’ve already lain with him!”

“Shh!” Sansa glanced about to see if anyone could have heard. Then she slipped to the door and closed it softly. She walked over to Arya, her eyes dropping for a moment. “Yes.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“I had to. To know if I could be with a man in that way…after…you know. It wouldn’t be right to wed him and not be able to lie with him.”

Arya’s face softened as if she had just remembered exactly why Sansa had refused to marry for so long. But then she gave Sansa an incredulous look. “And you – you _liked_ it?”

Sansa stifled a smile. “I didn’t hate it. I didn’t have terrible thoughts or want to run away.”

Arya just stood there, shaking her head. “He wasn’t a brute?”

“Of course not. He was lovely. Arya, he is good to me – he always has been. Oh, he was harsh in how he spoke to me in those days in King’s Landing, but he was always honest, always trying to protect me in his own way. And no one defended Winterfell any more stoutly than he did during the attack. You saw him.”

“I know.” 

“You know he’d die protecting me or anyone I love.”

Arya nodded, though she still looked skeptical.

“And he understands my dark moods – he’s patient with me. Oh, Arya, it’s not like the foolish dreams I had when I was a girl. It’s real – he’s real. I love him and he loves me. I hope you can be happy for me.”

Arya stared at her for a moment. Then she stepped forward, giving Sansa a gentle hug. “I am. I’m not exactly glad that he’ll be my good brother, but if you are happy, than I am glad for you.”

“Thank you, Arya.” Sansa’s voice wavered a little as she hugged her back. As she pulled back, Sansa took a breath, then ventured, “What about you?”

“Me? What about me?”

“Is there anyone who you would want to spend your life with?”

Arya harrumphed. “There’s no _man_ I’d want bothered with.”

“I didn’t ask if there was a _man_.” Sansa’s voice lifted with a hint of intrigue.

Arya’s eyes grew suspicious. “What do you mean?” She studied Sansa’s face and her own became apprehensive. “You _know!_ ”

Sansa nodded, smiling.

Arya looked alarmed. “Is it that obvious?”

“No. I just suspected and watched closely. It’s all right. I’m glad for you.” Sansa touched Arya’s arm reassuringly.

Her sister relaxed a bit, but still seemed uncomfortable.

Sansa couldn’t help probing a bit further. “Does she feel the same?”

“I don’t know – we don’t _talk_ about it. She’s too young.”

“She’s the same age as you were when you came back to Winterfell. And if anyone knows her own mind, it’s Lyanna Mormont, no matter what her age.” 

“I know. But there’s no rush for anything to happen.”

“Of course not.”

“And people won’t approve.”

“People don’t approve of me marrying Sandor. But I am. And it only matters what certain people think. I approve. And I know Jon and Dany will, so that’s all that matters.”

Arya stared at her, blinking back tears. “I never imagined you’d think that. I supposed it must be a secret forever.” 

“Not with those who care for you.” Sansa looked at her sister warmly. “We are a pack, remember?”

Impulsively, Arya embraced Sansa again. Pulling away, Arya said slyly, “You’d better start sketching bear designs.”

Sansa smiled broadly. “I already have.”

Arya gave her a grin, and together, the sisters went out to greet the rest of their pack.

 

~~  
[](https://imgur.com/Z7sgSJX)  
~~

**Author's Note:**

> It occurred to me that Sansa has likely been busy sketching and embroidering wolves, dragons, hounds, and bears for quite some time. And maybe a Three-Eyed Raven. I’d like to see that in the opening credits of the next episode of GOT.
> 
> I wanted to bring in Alys Karstark just to humanize her a bit, and show that Sansa would have a kind relationship with her. It probably would have made more sense that Alys would be a ward of the Starks in the first place, but there may have been those who thought that would give the Starks an unfair advantage over controlling the Karstark lands. I envision Jon as having felt that since his brother had killed the Karstark patriarch, that it would seem grasping for him to make her a ward of the Starks. Similarly, I imagine that little Ned Umber would have been made the ward of another northern house – perhaps the Hornwoods, Manderlys, or Reeds. Of course, none of this was discussed in the show and Alys Karstark’s story in the books is completely different, as is the Umbers’.
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: This may be a little raw. I am just posting these as they come to me without much editing or revision. Thanks for your patience and interest. Please feel free to post comments and suggestions.


End file.
